The Realm of the Phoenix
by ilovetonka
Summary: Its been two years since the end of the war but things didn't go as planned. Only pockets of rebellion remain. Anai, a fire bender raised in the southern tribe makes a small mistake that leads to her leaving to see the world like she'd always dreamed but in a world more terrible than she imagined can she make a difference or will she lose herself to the Phoenix Kings regime?ZukoXOC
1. Beyond the Edge

**Hello all! Thank you so much for reading this first installment of my story, I hope you'll review they make me feel happy inside! Warnings for cursing and violence that may occur throughout the story. Please enjoy :D**

**Chapter One - Beyond the Edge**

Anai's mittens clutched the edge of the wall, the heat of her hands melting the ice and dampening the surface of the tigerseal skin. Her cheeks were colored pink from the freezing air that turned her breath to mist. Pulling at her heavy coat trying to hold in some of the warmth she watched the horizon. Waves, cold blue gray waves; the same color as her eyes,only broken icebergs floating by.

The fifteen year old did this often, climbing the stairs to the top of the wall just to watch. At the moment the sun was only just rising on the far edge of the horizon; glinting off the ice giving different bergs a blue or pink sheen. She wanted to enjoy it while she could, it was the first couple days of June, early winter, there would be six minutes of sunshine today. Anai scanned the water intently looking for something, anything of interest before her world was plunged into darkness for the next three months.

Maybe she'd see a pod of dolphin cats, or if she was really lucky a giant whale squid would break the surface before plunging back into the depths far beneath the ice. Or on the horizon there would be a far off plume of smoke and soot that signaled a patrol from the imperial fleet. Anything to break the monotonous boredom that was snow and ice, just for a fleeting second to hold her till the sun rose again.

Anai loved her home, she loved her mother, and her little hut just below the southern wall of the village. As much as she wouldn't admit it, she even loved the little brats that ran rampant in the tribe; though as they grew older they were becoming more tolerable. Still she held them on a similar level as the arctic chickens they raised for meat and eggs; somewhat useful even if incredibly annoying.

Still in Anai's eyes the ice and snow and frigid waters, the rambunctious children, and squawking chickens; it just wasn't enough. Or maybe it just was too much. She didn't know how to put it, but slowly as the years went on it was becoming unbearable. The only thing that ever seemed to change day to day was how long the sun was up, and how tall ten year old Juk was. She swore that boy was going to be a giant one day he was already up to her neck, and she wasn't terribly short. However tomorrow both of those would cease, well Juk would probably keep growing, but she wouldn't see him very well until spring.

She sighed glancing at the sun that was beginning to sink past its zenith. Things hadn't been this unbearable two years ago, back when Katara and Sokka were still here. Her lips pressed together into a thin frown as she thought about her best friends. They had left to follow the Avatar, to save the world. She had been passed out in bed with a flu that week, by the time she came to they were long gone. There was a part of her, a big part of her that resented Katara. She got to leave, to travel, to see the world. Katara became a master water bender, Anai still had no one to teach her locked away in her icy home. All this wouldn't have been so bad, if she hadn't told her best friend about all the places she wanted to travel, seeing Ba Sing Se and the Northern Tribe.

Anai knew she had been sick, that taking her away on a flying bison probably would have killed her. That the Avatar had to be rescued immeadiatly, and that there was no time to wait for her to recover. Not that it mattered how long they waited, the Avatar died in the end anyway. She briefly wondered if her friends had survived the comet, or if they had come to the same fate as the last air bender.

The sun was touching the horizon, visibly sinking below its waters. Anai grunted in frustration, and spun, her fur lined hood falling and her inky black hair whipping out in the strong polar winds. Her touch on the wall left a mitten shaped impression filled with water that steamed in the frozen air.

Just as she started climbing down the stairs, using the last of the light to clamber back to the village with out breaking her neck. Something of interest did appear on the horizon, something she should have seen. Maybe if she had noticed that plume of smoke in the distance, she would have known, and her life would have turned out a lot differently. As the sun finally sunk below the horizon and the village was plunged into darkness, the snow began to fall black.

"Anai!" she turned at the sound of a weathered voice calling her name, "Anai is that you?"

"Yes Gran Gran!" she called back over the sound of the wind that was beginning to pick up. "I'm here!"

"I can barely see when the sun is down, won't you help me get my chickens?"

"Of course Gran Gran." she replied respectfully, grateful the dark concealed her exasperated expression. Frustrating did not even begin to explain the experience of rounding up chickens when you can only see a few feet in front of you, and the wind drowns out their obnoxious clucking. It took twenty minutes and two face plants into piles of gathering snow before all of the chickens were in their cages and handed off to the old woman to bring back to her hut.

"Do you need any more help Gran Gran? I can walk you home if you'd like." Anai said politely praying to the moon that the old woman would decline her offer.

"Oh don't worry dear. It's not too far, and unlike these blasted chickens my house doesn't move." she laughed and turned her dark form becoming indiscernible. Anai grinned as she turned around pulling her hood lower over her head to keep out the snow as she trudged back to her hut. It took longer than usual in the dark and the wind, by the time she was inside, the thick seal skins thudding shut behind her, she was freezing. Quickly she shed her soaked coat, and stumbled around in the dark searching for spark rocks.

All she managed to do was knock over every possession they had, everything was aggravating her. The cold, the dark, how she was stuck on this spirts forsaken piece of ice, how her hair tickled the back of her neck, and most of all at the moment her mother's no bending rule. With a growl she gave up throwing her self onto the pile of skins and furs that made her bed. Even the soft polar bear dog fur, a gift from her father, didn't sooth her. All she wanted to do was scream, the anger boiled in her stomach and made her arms and legs itch, her skin crawl.

She was annoyed at her inability to light a fire, angry at the reason she couldn't. She was furious that she was stuck here in the dark and the cold far away from anything that could be called exciting. Her mother said she should count herself among the lucky, here we could be content. Here we were safe, that all the reason that caused her to be so excruciatingly bored were all the ones that kept them from being a concern. The reason they were left alone for the most part.

Grunting she rolled out of her pile of furs, pounding the floor with her fists. She could feel the tears start to sting her eyes, the lump in her throat begin to choke her. She sobbed in frustration punching the floor again, missing the soft furs she hit a patch of hard frozen dirt sending a shockwave of numbing pain up her arm. She cried out again sitting up and punching the air, a steady plume of flame shot out and she screamed; the wind would hide her noise from the neighbors. Her mother was out still, normally she would be worried as to why she would be out in the dark with a storm coming in, but at the moment she didn't care.

She shot ball of fire after ball of fire screaming each time the hut was illuminated the skins and stuffed heads and weapons mounted on the wall cast eerie shadows each time her temper took the form of flame. She leapt to her feet, crying out as she kicked and punched. The tears had begun to fall glistening every time she bent fire. Her final shout was strangled by emotion cracking and dying out as a whimper, the last ball of flame shot into the fire pit, lighting it with a sharp crack the fire rearing towards the ceiling before dying back to a steady flicker.

She let out a strangled sob, collapsing to the floor. She could feel a mixture of sweat and water trickling down the back of her neck and she wiped at more aggravation boiling in the pit of her stomach. Glancing down at her hand her heart froze, the water was black. Why was it black?

The sound of someone clapping slowly behind her came over the roaring wind, she turned trying to wipe away tears, but only succeeding in smearing her face in sooty black water.

"Anai..." her mother said with an emotion in her voice the girl had only heard once before, when the letter came that her father, or the man she called her father, had died fighting the fire nation. Heart break. Her mother wasn't the one clapping.

"Bravo Anai! Bravo!" the man's voice was slick drawling out in a slightly nasle tone. He looked like an eel hound without the nice personality. Tall, thin, and greasy; his black hair was streaked with gray and slicked back with some sort of oil, a thin mustache was similarly groomed. That wasn't the worst part about him, what really made Anai shudder were his eyes. They were dark gold, their deep set in his head accentuated by his slanting brow line and hawk like nose. His eyes looked as if in a perpetual scowl though his lips thin and dry were slightly upturned in a smirk.

She had never seen this man before but it was impossible not to know who he was. His black armor accented with gold, and complete with a phoenix head thrown back in an undying scream, as if it had caused it physical pain when it had been emblazoned on the man's breast plate. The man was a soldier of the Phoenix King's Empire.

Her mother had always told her, to count her blessings here in the southern tribe they were out of sight and caring of the Phoenix King's tyranny. Here they were safe, they were content. Anai was no longer sure she would be able to count on that anymore.


	2. The Monsters

**Yay second chapter! Same as before some cursing or violence may occur throughout the course of the story. Pretty pretty pretty please review! they make me feel fuzzy. Tips and ideas are also more than welcome :D**

**Chapter 2 - The Monsters**

"Quite impressive," the man said in that awful nasal tone, stepping out of the doorway he walked in slow deliberate circles around her, picking disdainfully over the furs that carpeted their home. He ignored Anai's glares, eyeing her like a piece of livestock, an animal to be bought and sold. Though she doubted he had any intention to pay for her if, no when, he took her away. "Especially for a half breed." he said as he stopped in front of her making sure to catch her eye. There was no compliment intended in that remark. "You have talent Anai, you could be great. If you'll agree to come with me that is." His eyes narrowed, his thin mustache twitching along with his upper lip.

There was no question of_ if_, Anai knew she had no power in this. Were she to refuse, the best case scenario would be her imprisonment, the worst the destruction of the Southern Tribe. The Phoenix King, and those who served him got what they wanted, without exception. She pressed her lips together draining out their color. There was no turning back, this was her mistake, and she had to deal with the consequences. She glanced at her hand working itself through the thick polar bear dog fur, she remember when her father had brought it home from hunting with the rest of the men. She had run up to her father, the other children her age doing the same, she couldn't remember her smile being any wider than when they came home. The promise of meat, and occasionally something pretty they found. She knew couldn't risk hurting the rest of the tribe for her loss of control.

"What do you say Anai?" the Phoenix soldier stepped forward placing one gloved hand on her shoulder. Her gaze flickered from the man, to her mother. Every line on the woman's face seemed more prominent, her soft blue eyes more haunted, she had lost everything save her daughter to the fire nation, to the Phoenix King, and now she could loose her too. Anai's mother shook her head slowly as she tried to blink back tears. Anai's face contorted with emotion, temporarily forcing her into a grimace. _I'm sorry mom,_she thought as she regained control of her expression.

"Yes." she shot her mother a sharp look as she opened her mouth to protest. She didn't know if the soldier would ignore her, or hurt her; it depended on his temper, but she didn't want to take the chance.

"Welcome to the 51st regiment, Anai. I'm Commander Dian Rui..."his tone suddenly darkened, "we expect nothing, but the best from you." He had this look in his eye, that she could not explain, but it wasn't something she found comforting. The Commander turned on his heel pushing opening the skins and stepping into the storm. She knew she was expected to follow that she had only seconds left in the warmth of her home. She leapt forward throwing her arms around her mother.

"Good bye. I love you." she choked out, burying her face in her mother's shoulder. Her mother responded with several strangled syllables that sounded vaguely like 'I love you too'. "I'm sorry mom." she whispered before releasing the embrace and lifting the tiger seal skins in the door way. The warm fire light that had betrayed her spilled out onto the snow, and disappeared. She didn't look back at the dark form of her hut, or the faint ghost of smoke rising from its chimney, a reminder of her mistake. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to leave. Instead she trudged forward following the lanky black form of Commander Dian Rui.

The hull of the ship slammed shut behind her with a loud metallic clang, the loading dock was nothing to be marveled at. It was cold gray steel vaguely illuminated by flickering torches, and covered in soot and grease from various weaponry that had been shipped across the vast empire. The only adornment was a banner hanging across the back wall, the symbol of Ozai, the golden phoenix on a black field. She was just barely able to make out the shimmer of the bird's feathers in the dim lighting. The wind howled against the sides of the ship, she wished she could scream with them, fall to her knees and cry the same long mournful wails. Or to pound her fists to the floor and throw fire into the air. One was an act of weakness, the other defiance; neither would be taken lightly.

She stood in tense silence, arms folded behind her ram rod straight back. The Commander faced away from her standing in a similar position, though his far more relaxed, his head slightly cocked back staring at the many pipes of the ceiling, as if deep in thought. Whatever he was contemplating, he didn't care to share, he just spun to face her. In the low lighting his eyes were nothing more than gleams of gold in deeply shadowed pits, giving him an even more menacing air than before.

"Straight through the door on the left, you will find a place to wash and put on your uniform. Someone will come to show you to your barrack." Anai nodded quickly with a quiet but audible "yes sir." and turned walking towards the door in the direction Dian Rui had indicated.

"And Anai." his voice droned behind her, echoing off the metal walls. She stopped, a sick feeling starting in her stomach and spreading up through her chest and throat. She turned stiffly, keeping her arms folded though a loose strand of her black hair had found its way to her eye, making her blink profusely while tearing up. "Just because you're father was fire nation, don't expect to be trusted like you're from the home land, you were raised in the tribes, you're going to have to work to gain respect." She nodded stiffly and turned opening the door and closing it as calmly as possible before rubbing furiously at her eye. _Who says I wanted your respect anyway._ she grumbled to her self.

She was in another dull metal room, though this one smaller so the torches lit it better. It had a slightly cozy feeling despite the barren metal and sparse beaten down furniture. In one corner was a wax paper dressing screen with what looked to be a wash basin behind it. By the wall was a vanity with a comb and mirror. Sighing she trudged to the tub, stripping her clothes she tested the water with a finger. One of the few perks of this place, she could heat her bath water without looking over her shoulder. Letting her hand sink a little deeper she felt the energy flow, channeling down her arm until the water began to steam. With a satisfied smile she sunk into the hot bath letting her hair down she started scrubbing it, and her whole body that had been covered in dirt and grime during the day. After a while she just soaked trying not to think about the bits of dirt and the moon spirit knew what else that floated in the tub with her.

Anai sat in the water until perspiration began to gather on her face and shoulder, she hated the sticky nasty feeling it gave her. She quickly got out toweling dry and putting on her new uniform. A dull red tunic with black shoulder arm and shin guards as well as a belt and ankle high leather boots. She knew the uniform well, a standard fire nation soldier, you didn't get to wear the colors of The Phoenix King for nothing. Walking to the mirror she finally saw just how much she looked like a fire nation girl. The raven hair, the high refined cheek bones, the pale skin, though hers was a bit darker due to her water tribe ancestry. She looked like everything she had ever hated, ever despised, she looked like her father, she looked like herself, a fire bender. The enemy.

_That is what I am now isn't it?_ she thought bitterly, as she eyed the comb. It had broken and cracked teeth and a mixture of knotted and torn strands of black and brown hairs woven in between as frizzing out along the handle. She prayed the rest of their supplies wouldn't be like this, and settled down to finger combing instead getting out the large tangles before throwing it into its regular high ponytail. She frowned twirling her finger in the still scraggly hair. She could still hear the wind, she was still home, but she knew there was no going back, there was no getting off this ship.

The door creaked open slowly, and she straighten turning slowly to see who was coming through. Anai's lips parted slightly, her brows knitting together. She hadn't expected what she saw peeking nervously around the door. A little girl, with matted black hair that fell over her face. She looked frail even through her ill fitting clothing and her hunched posture. One foot was still behind the threshold ready to dart back if needed.

"I-I'm here to t-take you to y-your rooms miss." she said quietly, she seemed so scared. Anai's eyes rested on the girl's hand which was tightly clenched around the edge of the door, burns red angry scars that snaked their way up her hands and wrists. Fire benders have a temper. The longer it took for her to respond the more nervous the girl seemed to get, her hands clenching the door a little tighter her knuckles turning white. She had shifted her weight even further back, as if terrified she would get burned again. Anai swallowed hard, she had always wanted to travel to get away from home, she had never wanted to be a monster.


	3. Exactly What they Want

**I'm so sorry for the long wait, I've been busy with school, and I'm about ready to murder chemistry. Well here is the third chapter to this story I hope you enjoy it, and please review! They make me feel really happy :D**

**Chapter 3 - Exactly What they Want**

The serving girl had lead her to room full of bunks, most of them empty. A couple girls glanced over, a mildly curious expression behind their golden eyes, but returned to their conversations. Anai thanked the little girl she didn't expect a response, and didn't get one. The last she saw of her was a burned hand disappearing as she quietly shut the door.

Awkward did not begin to describe her emotions as she stared at the room, for the first time she was alone. No family, no Katara, no children or chickens. To top it all off, she was faced with a boat full of fire benders, and had no idea which bunk to take. Or what would happen if she chose one that another girl had already laid claim to. Anai stood lips pressed together while she intently examined the carcass of what appeared to be some sort of eight legged mouse. She shuddered, it must've been something from the fire nation.

"New Recruit?" a voice asked, Anai glanced up. A woman looked down from the bunks beside her. She was in her mid twenties, the faint beginnings of laugh lines running from her nose to her chin. She looked like any fire bender, pale with deep black hair, and gold eyes. Hers were softer though, not like Dian Rui's.

"Yeah..." I mumbled, scuffing the floor with my boots, careful to avoid that dead mouse creature.

"The bunk below me is free," she said nodding her head towards it, too lazy to lift her arms, "I could use the company." she smiled broadly, warm eyes glowing in the dim light. I looked at the bottom bunk, a knapsack lay haphazardly across it.

"Are you sure its free?"

"Yeah. Oh...I guess they haven't moved her stuff yet." she broke eye contact for a second, her gaze moving to something of interest on the wall.

"Did she move bunks or something?" Anai asked.

"You could say that..." the woman trailed off. Anai nodded, eyes falling back to the ground, the dead eight legged mouse.

"So what's your name newbie?"

"Anai."

"Hotaru," she smiled again, and Anai started to see where the laugh lines were coming from, "but you can call me Taru."

Over the next two weeks on the ship, Anai fell into a routine. She woke every morning before the crack of dawn with the other girls donning her uniform and reporting to the main deck for morning call. As a recruit with no formal training I wasn't actually allowed to do any work. If I were to screw anything up not only would my head be on a plate, but Dian Rui's would be as well. However it was still mandatory that she reported every morning so they could make sure she was still there. Not all soldiers were willing, more than a few went as far as jumping ship. In the last two years even the people Fire Nation had begun to doubt, but that didn't mean they had ceased to fear.

After call she had breakfast with Taru and a few of the other girls. A couple of young soldiers name Kimi and Kyoko, they were twins. Both of them were nice enough, but possessed the quick temper that was so stereotypical of a Fire Nation girl. When they weren't on a rampage, they were actually pleasant to be around. After breakfast the other's began their duties, and Anai began lessons on the history of the Fire Nation which lasted till lunch; then on fire bending till dinner. After that she was usually ready to fall asleep.

It would be another two weeks till they finally came to port in the Fire Nation's capital city, and Anai wasn't sure how much more of these lessons she could handle. She didn't mind fire bending, the instructor was a strict, stodgy old man, but he could teach. It was the history lessons she hated.

"Anai! Anai are you paying attention?" the Fire Sage who was her tutor snapped. She had been drifting off again, she did that a lot.

"Yes of course sir." she lied, and the Fire Sage nodded tight lipped. He knew it too, but he wasn't going to take the trouble to punish her for it every time. Anai might have been more interested, but what they were feeding her didn't feel like history, it felt like an over propagandized story. However she had to pass the test she would be given, otherwise Dian Rui would deem her unready for proper training, and keep her on the ship. As much as she dreaded arriving in the capital, she loathed this ship.

"Now, sixty years ago. Only forty after the start of the war, mind you. The great Firelord Azulon took the throne, under his wise rule we progressed considerably in the Earth Kingdom taking the southern islands, and much of the north eastern peninsula..." Anai tried to focus she really did, but the Sage's lessons either bored her near to sleep or made her so angry that she did exceptionally well in her bending lesson that afternoon. She couldn't take their justifications for genocide and mass murder. They used words like progress, greater-good, prosperity for the world. The Fire Nation had much to share, and it was trying to unite the world in a stronger, more capable, peaceful land.

Sometimes she felt herself wanting to believe it, something about the Sage's soft rhythmic voice, the dimly lit room, and the thick smokey incense the man kept burning constantly. She wanted to believe in this world of peace, and universal prosperity, where there would be no more war. If she fought just a little bit harder, she would live in a perfect world. Then she remembered Grangran telling her when Katara and Sokka left, about a little boy with an arrow on his head who was the last of his kind. Of a race that was now extinct for good.

She knew she would be presented with a choice eventually, to fall into line, or to make a break for it. Though she knew the latter would more than likely end in her execution. If there was one thing she had learned in her history lessons, dissent was only an opposition to peace. The only way to obtain peace was to make sure those who opposed it would no longer be a threat. She felt that part of her curriculum was more a warning than anything else.

"While I know you would love to sit here and listen to the rest of my lesson on Azulon's military prowess." The Sage's voice held a subtle hint of sarcasm, she had to force down a smirk when she caught it. "Lunch will be served in a few minutes, and you need nutrition before your bending lesson. He said standing up, Anai rose after him bowing respectfully as he had taught her in their first few lessons which had focused more on etiquette than history.

"Thank you sir." she said, not bringing her eyes to meet his, and left the small room. It took her only a few minutes to navigate her way through the identical steel gray halls now, something she had had to learn quickly neither of her instructors took kindly to tardiness. Turning into the hall that ran along the starboard side her eyes caught on a small dark form tiptoeing her way through the corridors.

Anai hadn't seen the little girl since her first day on the ship, and honestly she hadn't crossed her mind. She watched her disappear around the corner, surprisingly fast considering her hunched shuffling stride. The corners of Anai's mouth turned down slightly, brow furrowing over dark blue eyes. She almost considered going after her, but then what? Say hello and try to start a conversation over a pot of jasmine tea? She sighed and turned in the opposite direction towards the stairs that would lead towards the mess hall.

"Anai!" she heard a voice call out and looked up, Taru was waving from a table on the other end of the hall. The twins were there too, glowering into bowls of soup. Apparently they hadn't been having a good day so far. Anai nodded to her, and went into line. The soup of the day was cayenne pepper with chopped onions and carrots, none of which she had tasted until she left home. She discovered that she liked carrots, and the spiciness of the pepper's however she also found out that she really detested onions. Curling her lip at the little clear pieces of root floating in the pale orange broth she left the line and went to find her table. She took her place next to Taru, who gave her a hug, the twins just grunted. Taru had sort of adopted her as a younger sister, the older woman had been the one who helped her figure out how to get around the ship her first few days on board.

"How's our little savage?" Taru cooed rubbing her fist into Anai's dark black hair. The nickname had stuck almost immediately, it hadn't taken long for them to figure out she was from the Southern Tribe. She scowled playfully at her friend and proceeded to pick the onions from her soup.

"I'll take those." a deeper voice said sliding in next to her, Jan Lee. He had been on the ship for the past four months. The tall young man scooped the growing pile of onion's into his hand and plopped them into is mouth smiling smugly down at Anai.

"And you guys call me a savage," she laughed pushing him, "at least I know how to use silverware." Lee grinned and growled at her laughing through his onions. Anai rolled her eyes, how that man could stand a mouth full of onions she would never know. They talked for a while something about information of a rebel movements nearby. Anai tried to zone out for these parts, what she didn't know wouldn't harm her opinion of these people who she was really starting to like.

"Anai." she didn't look up eyes still trained on her soup stirring around to find the one elusive onion she'd missed. "Anai." Lee repeated watching her.

"Hm?" she finally looked up, Lee was shaking his head his smile reaching his light gray eyes.

"I have sentry duty on deck this afternoon. I might watch your firebending lesson." he said starting in on his own soup. Anai felt her cheeks heat, she wasn't exactly used to boys her age flirting with her. She was supposed to marry Sokka, but they never really acted as any more than friends. She wasn't even sure Lee was flirting with her, her contact with males included her father, seven year olds, and Sokka whose mentality wasn't much different.

"Aren't you supposed to, you know, watch for enemy ships?"

"What enemy ships?" he laughed leaning back, the twins and Taru smirked into their meals, "The only enemy ships are in the northpole and they can't afford to come this far. The Southern Tribe and Earthkingdom haven't had ships since the end of the war." Anai's shoulders stiffened, lips slightly pursed, however Lee didn't seem to notice. Sweet as he was he was thicker than Sokka.

"I can't see why not." she said, lifting her bowl tipping the rest of the broth back into her mouth. "Ready? I need to get going." Lee nodded in response doing to the same to his soup.

"Well lets go then."

Today was only the second day that she was actually bending, the past two weeks had been dedicated to breathing exercises, making small flames in her hands, and meditation. Yesterday she had managed to shoot a small fireball from her fist a few feet. She couldn't help but feel disappointed, most of the bending she had done had occurred when she was too angry to hold it in and it roared out after months of holding in the fire.

"Anai, hold your stance! I don't care if you are from the Southern Tribe." the old soldier's lip curled slightly saying the name of her home as if it were inhabited by the spider mice that were all too common on the ship. "You are not a waterbender and you will not act as such, now hold your form!" Anai scowled, straitening her arm and flexing the muscles in her core. He didn't say praise he never had, silence just seemed to mean it was passable. She tried to follow his commands, she didn't like the man, but she wanted to learn to bend more than anything.

She followed as he called out katas stepping forward punching the air arm held out tight. While Corporal Ren Feng called out words to her, Ferocity, Form, Hands Up, Shoulders Back; usually preceded by More, Better, or Keep Your and followed by sloppy do it again, or it goes to show the Southern Tribe are a bunch of savages. Each comment made her scowl deepen, and she could feel it. Fire burning under her skin crawling through her muscles, seeping into her mind. The jibes just kept coming; her arms were held at the wrong angle, she didn't rotate her hip enough on the kick, do it again. Her form got progressively worse, but the fire grew stronger.

Each punch no matter how badly positioned according to Ren Feng released a long plume of flame that filled the deck with the familiar crackle of fire.

"Again!" the old man yelled, hands resting against his pot belly. Her face was flushed and her hair hung in long strands that clung to the sweat on her cheeks. She held back a grimace and returned to the starting position bowing down quickly. She caught Lee's eye, he looked sympathetic. She could feel that fire, the dragons rearing their heads.

"I am your teacher Anai! Not some half sacked man with a spear and a bag of fish, start again and bow properly." The man growled. She didn't nod or make eye contact, she rose and then fell again dropping lower than she needed to for a man of his status, holding it while she snarled at the ground. When she came back up she rushed forward into the next pose, arm swinging up not thrusting out like it was supposed to, the flames flared up to scorch the wall of the entrance to the below decks. She swung around jets of red fire coming one after another. She took each turn too quickly spinning around so that she was unstable, an attack from almost any angle could have brought her down. She spun kicking out with her left heel a long stream of fire following after it flaring out before wavering and dying. She stumbled slightly as she brought her foot back to the hard steel of the deck.

Looking she met Corporal Ren Feng's eyes, and she saw there a certain smugness. She had given him exactly what he wanted.

"I will see you tomorrow Anai, we'll see if we can do something with your form."


End file.
